Since last month’s announcement that the still-under-construction Windsor-Essex Parkway has been permanently renamed in honour of venerable Windsor politician Herb Gray, there’s been speculation about what nickname it will inevitably be stuck with.

“The Herb? Really? I rather think it should be called The Gray,'” wrote Windsor resident Lori Lorimer in a letter to The Star.

Letter writer Dorothy Fredette of Windsor fears it’s only a matter of time before the public starts following references to “The Herby” with the word “Curby.”

“Think about it!” Fredette warned. “Herb Gray deserves more respect.”

And several letter writers have openly questioned whether the $1.8-billion parkway — the largest infrastructure project in Ontario history — should be named after a politician at all.

“The Windsor-Essex Parkway is a great name. That is what our new super highway leading to the new international bridge should be called,” declared letter writer John Murray Doig of Windsor. “The name tells all Canadians and Americans where it is.”

Lucy Howe of Leamington wrote that she will continue to refer to the road as the Windsor-Essex Parkway, regardless of the Ontario Liberal Party’s “audacity and arrogance” in naming it after one of their own.

“I respect Herb Gray for his contribution to this area in years gone by, (but) a statue in his honour would be more fitting,” Howe opined.

Steve Swain of LaSalle wrote that he’s personally offended by the renaming. “What’s next, the new Dalton McGuinty Bridge?”

Meanwhile, Roger Brennan of Windsor wondered about the lack of public input on the name choice, and suggested calling the route the Ojibway Parkway in tribute to the First Nations peoples who populated the region long before any politician.

“Why not take a look at our history for a more appropriate name?” Brennan wrote.

But to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, the naming of highways is a difficult matter.

An order-in-council allows the cabinet to exercise power without recalling the legislature. It’s an administrative prerogative that takes effect the day the lieutenant governor signs it.

In other words, you might as well get used to The Herb.

Cabinet member and Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Dwight Duncan defended the decision at a recent news conference. He noted that there are other major routes in Ontario which bear the names of politicians or public figures — such as the Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway in Hamilton, the James Snow Parkway in Halton, the Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway in Toronto, and the Queen Elizabeth Way connecting Toronto with the Niagara region.

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